Seven years ago, Liverpool dealt Manchester City their first proper blow in a modern-day rivalry that has taken the Premier League to new heights.
In his first full season on Merseyside Jurgen Klopp’s team were still far from title challengers. Yes, they had reached the League Cup and Europa League finals the year before, they had snagged Sadio Mane, Georginio Wijnaldum and Joel Matip in the transfer market and they had a newly-completed Anfield Main Stand to roar the team on, though they were still a work in progress.
And the same could be said for City. Their squad valued at half a billion pounds by Transfermarkt were a lot closer to the finished article though had been freshly handed over to Pep Guardiola at the start of the campaign – following Klopp to these shores from Germany.
The managerial duo had spent three years competing in the Bundesliga, Klopp with Dortmund and Guardiola with Bayern Munich. The latter got the better, winning a back-to-back-to-back titles – now was their time to conquer English football.
Their first meeting was scheduled for December 31, 2016 – under to the Anfield lights to round off the calendar year.
The Reds fielded a starting line-up that looked like this: Simon Mignolet; Nathaniel Clyne, Dejan Lovren, Ragnar Klavan, James Milner; Georginio Wijnaldum, Jordan Henderson, Emre Can; Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino, Adam Lallana.
Whilst the visitors presented their star-studded cast like this: Claudio Bravo; Pablo Zabaleta, John Stones, Nicolas Otamendi, Aleksandar Kolarov; Yaya Toure, Fernandinho; Raheem Sterling, Kevin de Bruyne, David Silva; Sergio Aguero.
Ultimately it can be summarised as far from a taster of the battles to come. Wijnaldum’s eighth-minute header was the difference in a 1-0 home victory, which according to Google’s vast database featured no shots on target between either set of players. Video evidence is there to dispute that as the Dutchman’s thunderous effort on the end of Lallana’s inch-perfect cross unequivocally nestled in the bottom corner of Bravo’s goal without the help of the post or a deflection.
It birthed the first records of Guardiola frustration with Liverpool, too. After an outburst when his team conceded, the Daily Mail’s report that day stated: “Away from the microphones, though, the mask slipped. An hour after the final whistle, standing outside City’s dressing room there was a revealing insight into Guardiola’s state of mind as he engaged in a deep conversation with Txiki Begiristain, City’s director of football.
“He paced back and forth and loosened his tie. He gesticulated and drove his fist into his hand. His arms were outstretched and his eyes blazed as he tried to fathom why City were so meek. As Guardiola ran his hand over his head, exasperation seeping out of him, Begiristain could only listen.”
Yaya Toure, an old foe of the Reds since his move to the Etihad Stadium six years prior, even admitted his coach’s outrage during the half-time interval.
“When you are losing and Liverpool are the better side – and when you are losing like that – then it’s not going to be happy at half-time,” said the Ivorian.
“It was disappointing and we all felt that. Of course he is going to be angry. He is a manager who can be angry.
“We have to sometimes improve and react to situations. We knew Liverpool would be waiting when we lost the ball and they did that to score. So he was angry for everything that was happening.”
These moments, understandably, may have got lost underneath other famous times the Spaniard has fumed on the Anfield touchline. Gesturing and shouting ‘twice’ towards the laughing crowd as Michael Oliver waved away two separate penalty claims before saying “thank you very much” when shaking the referee’s hand at full-time in November 2019 may be the best to date.
Still, they cannot take the credit for kickstarting Guardiola’s quest to take his City side to the top of the English game ahead of Liverpool, competing with them directly in two-horse races many a time.
In that regard the match seven years ago today had little bearing on the direction of the Premier League trophy at the end of the year. Chelsea won that battle comfortably, finishing the season with 93 points under Antonio Conte’s watch whilst City on 78 and Liverpool on 76 qualified for the Champions League in third and fourth respectively.
But that would be the final time a club other than the Reds or City claimed the English top-flight title – an era of a title rivalry so dominant that it has come close to being broken only once in six years.
